Market Research & Polling Services

Market Research & Polling Services

Brief Excerpt from Industry Overview Chapter:

Companies in this industry gather, record, tabulate, and present marketing and public opinion data. Major companies include Forrester Research, Gallup, Gartner, Nielsen, and Westat (all based in the US); GfK (Germany), INTAGE (Japan), Ipsos (France), and Kantar (UK).

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven primarily by the health of the economy and corporate profits. The profitability of individual companies depends on managing costs and maintaining a steady flow of work. Large companies have advantages in providing a variety of research and ancillary services to large customers, and in achieving economies of scale in marketing and computerized operations. Small companies can compete successfully by specializing in a research methodology or in emerging niche knowledge areas. The US industry is concentrated: the top 50 companies generate about 60% of industry revenue.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Major services are marketing research, accounting for about 70% of the industry's revenue. This is followed by over the internet (more than 10%) followed by face-to-face method (less than 10%), by telephone (5%), and using focus groups (about 5%). Many research firms specialize in 1) a discipline, such as customer satisfaction, human resources, or advertising tracking; 2) an industry segment, such as technology or pharmaceuticals; or 3) marketing services, such as focus groups, polling, or psychographics.